A Trip by Ferry Across the Harbour

Sydney, Australia May 7 to May 14, 2005

Wednesday May 11th 2005. A trip by Ferry across the harbour

Our friends from Rooty Hill came down to the City in the morning. Together we took the ferry to go to Manly, a beach town across the Sydney harbour. It was past the peak travel hours (morning rush hour) then hence the ferry was not crowded but still there were many people on the ferry. It takes about half an hour to cross over. The sight of the city and the countryside from the ferry were just beautiful.

In Manly we took a stroll by the beach and also the town. Just as anywhere in a tourist town, Manly has many souvenir shops, supermarkets, travel agents and restaurants. We stopped at one of the restaurants facing the Pacific Ocean for lunch. The soft sea breeze, cool weather and the walk made us hungry. We continued walking around the town after lunch and then caught the ferry back to the city.

On arriving the city our friends returned to Rooty Hill while we continued our tour by taking the Bondi Explorer which took us around that part of the city not covered by the Sydney Explorer that we took two days ago. This tour took us around some of the classy residential areas that we saw from the harbour cruise that we took two days ago. We could see the houses up close now and most them are really big, some palatial. The driver of the explorer said that most of the houses would cost anything above 20 million Australian Dollars. Wow!!

We got off the Explorer bus at Bondi beach and took a stroll at the beach. There were many surfers in the sea trying to ride the waves, most of them unsuccessful, and there were also many sunbathers. Hello! Sunbathing at a temperature of about 15o C? We were using pullovers to keep warm and here were the sun-worshippers in the tiniest of bikinis some topless even…. I think we stood out like a sore thumb fully and heavily clothed against the scantily dressed beach people. There were of course others heavily clothed like us at the beach but the numbers are small. I think these beach people purposely brave the cold to flaunt their ‘assets’ in public.

We caught the next bus back to the city and went back to the hotel for an early dinner in our apartment and later went out again to catch the night cruise around the harbour. The cruise takes about one and a half hours around the harbour and to view the city and the other areas at night were just magnificent, with the lights of the city and their reflections in the water. Viewing the Sydney Opera House from the sea at night against the backdrop of the city lights were just as magnificent, a very beautiful sight indeed.

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Sydney, Australia